Media Blitz, or SolidWorks Users Getting Excited?

By

Since yesterday's lifting of the NDA, SolidWorks bloggers have been churning out page after page of their favorite new features in SolidWorks 2010.  I've read 19 articles already, and that's just the blogs that I follow regularly.  There's more on the way.

There's another twist to all of this going on as well.  Some in the traditional CAD media have commented on what's been happening over the past two days.  Perhaps the most interesting I've read comes not from a member of the media, but rather from Deelip Menezes – Changing Times for the CAD Media.  It's a very well written opinion piece, and the comments are intelligent and insightful – definitely worth a read.  The closing line in the article sums up what I'm about to say:

"The key ingredient is called passion."

It's easy to forget that most of the SolidWorks bloggers are in reality everyday SolidWorks users.  Most of them have been using SolidWorks for a very long time.  Most of them are very active in the SolidWorks Community.  Plenty of them are SolidWorks User Group Leaders.  A couple of them (myself included) are SolidWorks employees that were formerly everyday users. 

So while some of the SolidWorks bloggers are invited to events that used to be reserved for the traditional CAD media, and this year had their own private 2010 preview event, I can say without reservation that ALL of them, "media perks" aside, would still be writing about, talking about, and/or presenting "What's New in SolidWorks 2010" to their user group members.  And they'd be doing it with as much passion as they do on their blogs.

I'm not sure any of the SolidWorks bloggers consider themselves to be members of the "press".  I'm confident that none of them write blogs so they can get free trips to Concord, just as User Group Leaders don't spend a lot of their own time organizing local chapters so they get free admission to SolidWorks World.  The people that are writing blogs do it because they want to, because they are passionate about SolidWorks software, and because they enjoy the sense of personal satisfaction they get by helping fellow SolidWorks users.  They all seem to be having a lot of fun as well.

When I recommend to SolidWorks users that they follow the SolidWorks blogs, I'm not doing it because I think they'll get in-depth analysis on SolidWorks the company, or learn how much better (or different) SolidWorks  software is than other CAD packages.  I recommend the blogs for the same reason I recommend the SolidWorks forums or local user group chapters.  The whole idea is to learn more about how to use SolidWorks, how others are using SolidWorks, and to expand their knowledge by meeting and listening to the people that use SolidWorks every day.

Richard Doyle

Richard Doyle

My official title is Senior User Advocacy & SolidWorks User Groups - but most people just call me "The User Group Guy". I've been a SolidWorks user since 1997, and was one of the founding members of the SWUGN Committee. Since starting the Central Texas SolidWorks User Group in 1999, my career path has led me to DS SolidWorks and a dream job supporting the SolidWorks User Group Network worldwide.
Richard Doyle

@https://twitter.com/swugn

Richard Doyle